Français »
German "
Search
Jan Gruber

More articles from the category

Jan Gruber

Stockholm: Eurowings offers pilots up to 10.000 euros for signing contracts

Jan Gruber April 28, 2022 10:04

So-called signature bonuses are making a comeback at the Eurowings Europe base in Stockholm-Arlanda. First officers and captains can benefit from them. Commanders with a valid TR for Airbus A320 can expect up to 10.000 euros if they commit themselves for two years. Immediately after the collapse of the Air Berlin Group, several airlines, including Eurowings, Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter, Laudamotion, Wizz Air, Austrian Airlines and Easyjet Europe, were urgently looking for A320 pilots. They were able to collect handsome bonuses for signing their contracts. The Corona pandemic meant that many airlines had too many pilots. Some even increased wages or even cut jobs. Eurowings Europe probably imagined that recruiting pilots in Stockholm would be easier. Now they are trying to attract captains with a valid Airbus A320 type rating with the help of bonuses. Five aircraft of this type are stationed locally. Currently, a significant portion of the staff is provided by the Vienna base. First officers can receive a signing bonus of up to 5.000 euros.

Continue reading "

Call option: No decision on Klagenfurt Airport yet

Jan Gruber April 28, 2022 07:01

The supervisory board meeting of the Carinthian Investment Management on Tuesday evening did not bring about a decision on the possible repurchase of the majority shareholding in Klagenfurt Airport held by Lilihill. The committee plans to meet again on Monday. The state government is divided on how to proceed. The ÖVP, led by state councillor Martin Gruber, is pushing for the call option to be exercised. This would bring the airport back into majority ownership by the state of Carinthia via the state-owned KBV. The SPÖ, which provides the state governor, sees no reason for this. Regardless of this: a possible resolution by the KBV supervisory board alone is not sufficient to exercise the call option. The state parliament would then have to make the corresponding resolution and a majority for this is currently questionable given the disagreement between the SPÖ and the ÖVP. The KBV supervisory board meeting lasted until shortly before midnight on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday. They plan to review further documents and papers by next Monday. The meeting will then continue from 17:00 p.m. and a vote will be taken on the possible exercise of the call option.

Continue reading "

Isle of MTV Malta is taking place again this year

Jan Gruber April 27, 2022 10:04

On July 19, 2022, the Isle of MTV Malta is scheduled to take place again in Floriana, Malta, which is located near the capital Valletta. The festival had to take a two-year break due to the corona pandemic. Immediately afterwards, the MTV Malta Music Week will be held from July 19 to 24, 2022. Numerous parties are planned in various bars and clubs throughout the country. DJ Marshmello will be the headliner. The TV station MTV will broadcast the festival live in 19 countries on July 2022, 180. The event is considered a special magnet for Maltese tourism, which has been extremely "party-poor" over the past two years due to the pandemic. "As we slowly but surely return to normality after two years due to the pandemic, I am convinced that the return of Isle of MTV to Malta will be another opportunity to showcase Malta's diversity of culture and entertainment to the world. The return of the festival to Malta is a seal of quality for our country's tourism industry. Events of this caliber bring us much closer to our ultimate goal of making Malta a center for quality tourism in the Mediterranean," explains Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo. No tickets are required for the Isle of MTV Malta. Admission is free. On May 2, 2022, Malta will almost completely lift the mask requirement. Mouth and nose must then only be covered on airplanes, as well as in hospitals and nursing homes.

Continue reading "

Malta: No EU country has more aircraft per capita on its register

Jan Gruber April 27, 2022 08:03

Only around 520.000 people live on the inhabited Maltese islands of Malta, Gozo and Comino. At the same time, the smallest member of the European Union has 43 airlines with valid AOCs and valid operating licenses. The trend is rising sharply, as Eurowings, for example, is currently setting up a Malta branch. The Ryanair Group already accounts for around 23 percent of the aircraft registered in Malta. Around a decade ago, the island republic was still considered an "insider tip" for business jets and yachts. Meanwhile, more and more airlines are setting up operational subsidiaries with certificates from the Maltese Civil Aviation Authority CAD. "9H" - the country code of the Republic of Malta - before registration is no longer an exotic, but is now ubiquitous at least at European airports. At the end of this article there is a list of all holders of Maltese AOCs (as of April 26, 2022). There are various reasons why more and more airlines are settling in Malta. For example, Freebird Europe and Corendon Airlines Europe are subsidiaries of Turkish companies through legal detours. Their Malta branches serve as access to the European Union market, because with Turkish AOCs you are not allowed to fly within the Union territory on scheduled flights - but with Maltese ones you are. Malta also benefited from Brexit Titan Airways Malta was recently granted AOC and operating license by the CAD. The British airline founded the new subsidiary due to Brexit, because this meant that airlines licensed in the United Kingdom are only allowed to fly within the European Union to a very limited extent. Easyjet founded the Austrian Easyjet Europe Airline GmbH for precisely this reason. But also

Continue reading "
FFP2 mask (Photo: Pixabay / NightRainer).

Germany: One-way mask requirement for US airlines

Jan Gruber April 27, 2022 07:03

The number of European countries insisting on wearing face masks and mouth and nose coverings on board commercial aircraft is decreasing week by week. Austria is unique in the world with its FFP2 mask requirement. In Germany, there is actually also a "one-way mask requirement". While Lufthansa is currently insisting on wearing face masks on all flights, US carriers are more relaxed about this. If you fly across the pond from Germany with United Airlines or Delta, for example, you do not have to wear a mask. In the other direction, however, you do. Passengers traveling from Germany to the USA will probably find it difficult to understand why no mask has to be worn on the outbound flight, but on the return flight the airline has to enforce the mask requirement. There is simply bureaucracy behind this, because the USA no longer requires face masks, so the US carriers have decided to drop the masks. But if their planes fly to Germany, the German authorities' order that masks must be worn on flights to Germany applies. The Austrian regulation is slightly different. By means of NOTAM, all carriers are instructed that their passengers and crew members must wear FFP2 masks on all flights to/from Austria. Since the Alpine republic is the only country in the world that insists on the mouth and nose coverings formerly known as loop masks, the implementation does not work smoothly, as many people - often out of ignorance - also wear normal masks or are completely surprised that you still have to cover your mouth and nose on board.

Continue reading "

Paid catering: Condor sells Starbucks products

Jan Gruber April 26, 2022 12:07

The German holiday airline Condor and Starbucks are joining forces from May 1, 2022. In the future, passengers on short and medium-haul flights will be able to buy coffee, tea and hot chocolate from the US brand on board. Starbucks Medium Roast Instant Coffee is available for a fee. You can also buy the teas English Breakfast, China Green, Harmonic Mint and Hibiscus Spice. Instant hot chocolate and caramel waffles are also included in the new menu. The carrier explained that the Starbucks offering will be expanded in the next few weeks. It is a paid offer as part of the so-called paid catering.

Continue reading "

Shortage of staff at Swiss: Lufthansa will help out from June 2022

Jan Gruber April 26, 2022 11:08

Swiss is experiencing a staff shortage. Parent company Lufthansa is helping out for a few months on the routes between Zurich and Frankfurt and Munich. Some routes will be temporarily operated by the crane airline from June 2022. The changes are already visible in the booking systems of the two airlines. A Swiss spokesperson explained to Aviation.Direct: "Between June and October, some of the flights from Zurich to Munich and Frankfurt will be temporarily taken over by Lufthansa due to an internal group portfolio optimization, the connections are still guaranteed." When asked how many aircraft will be operated by Helvetic Airways on behalf of Swiss in mid-summer 2022, the media officer said: "In addition to the six Helvetic aircraft operated for Swiss all year round, additional Helvetic aircraft will be flexibly in use for Swiss in mid-summer to cover the additional seasonal demand."

Continue reading "

Missing spare parts: Sukhoi Superjets are gradually threatened with grounding

Jan Gruber April 26, 2022 10:03

The Sukhoi Superjet SSJ-100 was never a "real Russian" because, for reasons of prestige, the company relied on cooperation with Western suppliers from the outset. The hope was that this would enable the regional jet to be sold on a large scale to Western airlines. This hope has not been fulfilled and is now even becoming problematic for Russian operators. The Superjet may be a prestige project for the Russian aviation industry, but this type of aircraft has been slow to sell outside of Russia from the outset. Cityjet briefly operated SSJ-100s in Europe, even on a wet lease for the Lufthansa subsidiary Brussels Airlines, but it was only a short interlude because the aircraft were returned to the Russian lessors due to complicated spare parts supplies. The Sukhoi Superjet SSJ-100 contains numerous components manufactured in the West. These are subject to sanctions imposed by the United States of America and the European Union, among others, against the Russian Federation due to the military invasion of Ukraine. This is precisely what is now becoming a problem and could lead to Russian operators gradually having to ground their SSJ-100s. According to Russian media reports, Yuri Lapin, managing director of IrAero, warned the governor of the Irkutsk region that SSJ-100 operators are not in a position to repair the Powerjet SaM146 engines. The reason for this is that many of the required components and spare parts come from a French manufacturer. This manufacturer no longer supplies Russia due to the sanctions. The SaM146 turbofan engine was introduced as part of a joint venture between the current French aerospace company Safran and the Russian company NPO Saturn.

Continue reading "

Singapore allows vaccinated people to enter the country without being tested or quarantined

Jan Gruber April 26, 2022 09:38

Since April 19, 26, people who are fully vaccinated against Covid-2022 have been able to enter Singapore without quarantine and further tests. This applies by land, air and sea. Children under 12 years of age were already exempt from the once very strict entry regulations. Vaccinated people must be able to prove their status during entry control. Tests are then no longer necessary. There is also no longer any need to undergo isolation. People who are not fully vaccinated against Covid-19 must undergo another test on site in addition to presenting a negative PCR result. They must then undergo a seven-day quarantine, which is then concluded with another PCR test. Unvaccinated people must cover the costs of the three PCR tests themselves. Any costs that may arise from the quarantine must also be paid out of their own pocket. People who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 do not require a test or isolation as of Tuesday. Singapore hopes that the relaxed entry regulations will give tourism an additional boost. Among other things, reference is made to the Formula One race, which is to be held in the city-state again this year.

Continue reading "

Ryanair is returning to Klagenfurt in the 2022/23 winter flight schedule

Jan Gruber April 26, 2022 08:04

The low-cost airline Ryanair is planning a large-scale comeback at the Austrian airport Klagenfurt in the 2022/23 winter flight schedule period. The carrier wants to start several routes from this airport. In the future, the smallest Austrian commercial airport will be served all year round. The launch will be several destinations that the low-cost airline plans to present on May 3, 2022. The airline is still tight-lipped about the destinations and refers to the upcoming press conference. In any case, Ryanair wants to fly to Klagenfurt in the long term and gradually expand the range of routes. However, there are currently no plans for a base in Carinthia. The planes will fly into the capital of Carinthia from other airports. It is said that the range will be more extensive than in 2005. At that time, the Irish had several destinations from Klagenfurt in their route network. However, they later withdrew and accused the airport of an "outrageous fee increase". Prices were not increased, but a controversial subsidy program has expired. Ryanair was briefly active again from Klagenfurt Airport in the 2020 summer flight schedule. It served the destination Palma de Mallorca, but the route was discontinued after a few rotations. The reason for this was that entry regulations for Austria had been tightened at short notice and PCR tests were not yet easy to access and, ideally, free of charge. Demand therefore collapsed to virtually zero.

Continue reading "